Poolpaw's Secret - The Hidden Clans 1
by CaptainClipy
Summary: (Poolpaw and Watercoat are my OC's) Poolpaw runs away from RainClan, and it is up to Watercoat to find him. But what did he run away for? Watercoat will soon find out. Once he does, will he be able to keep it a secret from the rest of RainClan? (Cover by me) [BEING RE-WRITTEN CUZ IT SUCKZ]
1. Prolouge

_Authors Note: Watercoat and Poolpaw are my OC's._

 **Prologue**

White, small, slick paws ran across the almost always wet ground (for it almost always rained in RainClan), followed by larger white paws.

"Poolpaw!" the older cat called out. "Wait!"

"No, Watercoat!" Poolpaw yelled over his shoulder. "Stay away!"

Watercoat growled. He kept running and, being the older one, was able to run faster. He eventually got close enough to pounce, and managed to land right on top of Poolpaw. They rolled around on the wet ground before coming to a stop.

"What are you DOING!?" Watercoat hissed. "You're going to get us killed!"

Suddenly, they both went quiet when they heard a low grunt and the bushes shaking.

"Bear." Watercoat whispered.

Poolpaw whimpered. "What do we do?"

"Run," Watercoat said. "RUN!

The two cats scattered. At that moment, the bear burst out of the brush, and began the chase. The look on Poolpaw's face as Watercoat ran next to him indicated that he was, in fact, extremely terrified.

"Don't worry," Watercoat said. "It'll be alri-"

He should have been looking where he was running, though, because he ran right into a tree, falling to the ground. He stumbled to his feet and turned around to see a very cranky bear running at him. he tried to run, but the bear got close enough and bit his tail as Watercoat turned around, and the beast was now lifting him into the air. He yowled and hissed and tried to claw at it, but it was no use.

It grunted, dropped Watercoat, and collapsed. Behind it stood the tiny body of Poolpaw. He had one of his paws lifted up, and it seemed to be glowing a light blue.

"I knocked it out," he squeaked. "I have a strange power or something."

"Is that why you ran away?" Watercoat asked.

Poolpaw nodded. "Please don't tell anyone!"

Watercoat smiled and walked up to comfort his apprentice. "Don't worry," he said. "I won't."


	2. Chapter I

_Authors Note: Rawr. Meow. Woof._

 **Chapter  
I  
Secrets and Lies  
**

RainClan is a strange place. Maybe it is because of the fact that is always raining. Maybe it is because of the fact that they never burn to death in the humid, wet air.

Of course, there is a logical answer to all of this: StarClan, the home of wise (and not so wise) cats that have passed away. The good ones, of course. The others end up unlucky and fall to the Dark Forest.

But that's another story.

Anyway, StarClan had blessed RainClan, keeping it from becoming too humid or flooding, but still keeping the clan, simply said, awesome.

And boy did Poolpaw and Watercoat wish they could find their way back to RainClan right now. Poolpaw had run completely out of RainClan territory and into the territory of dangerous wildlife. Thankfully, what's good about RainClan, is that you know you are back in the clan territories when it stars raining. Although this made them more vulnerable to attacks, it was a handy little trick.

Watercoat and his young calico apprentice, Poolpaw, hadn't talked to each other since they began the trek back.

Watercoat looked down at the young cat, and could tell he was pretty shaken up. The mentor brushed across his side and purred softly to try to comfort the poor cat.

"Don't worry," he meowed softly. "It'll be fine."

Poolpaw slowly looked up to his mentor, a look of worry across his face.

Watercoat smiled sadly and they continued walking, passing the familiar forest brush.

* * *

Watercoat felt like he could breath again when they got back to the camp. The sun hadn't risen yet, so they had time to get back to their dens like nothing had happened.

"Goodnight, Watercoat." Poolpaw yawned as he curled up in the small den.

Watercoat scanned the area quickly to make sure there were no cats around. But when he turned back, Poolpaw was already fast asleep. The mentor smiled. He walked outside the den and strolled around the camp to get his bearings. The rain had changed to a short drizzle, and the feel of the soothing, sprinkling water landing on his fur was enough to calm him down.

"Don't worry," he reassured himself. "Poolpaw's fine. There's nothing wrong."

He jumped and twisted around at the sound of someone - or something - behind him. Two yellow eyes gleamed out of a den like lanterns in a cave. They slowly came closer towards him, and a blue-grey cat walked out.

Watercoat let out a sigh of relief. "It's just you, Wetwing."

Wetwing smiled. "What are you doing out here in the middle of the night?"

Watercoat's ear twitched. "Erm," he looked around. "I was..."

He couldn't tell Wetwing what was going on. He promised to his apprentice, and he was _not_ going to break his promise. Although, he didn't want to lie to his clan.

Wetwing looked expectantly, so the mentor finally said, "I... I had a nightmare... I just wanted to get my bearings..."

Wetwing seemed to have bought it. "Alright," he said with a shrug and a smile which just went perfectly together. "Now that your here..."

Watercoat knew exactly what was coming. "Yes, I'll keep watch."

Wetwing raised an eyebrow. "Well, okay then, but I was just wondering if you wanted to chat."

Watercoat sighed and smiled.


	3. Chapter II

_Authors Note: I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO WRITE HERE._

 **Chapter  
II**

Poolpaw woke up refreshed that morning, despite running away in the middle of the night. He scanned the apprentices den to see which cats were up yet. Jawpaw, obviously, was already up, and had left the den and was probably still waiting for his mentor, Wetclaw to arrive. Jawpaw had always been a fierce, serious, totally un-playful cat. Poolpaw had sometimes wondered what made him that way. It couldn't have been his mentor. Wetclaw had always been a kind, loyal tom, and never before had he ordered Jawpaw around _too_ much.

His thoughts were interrupted as he was tackled by a golden tabby, which he instantly identified by the voice and smell of the cat.

"Drippaw!" he mewed playfully.

They rolled along the mossy floor for half a second, until they collided with a very confused Lightpaw.

"Ow!" the white tabby hissed trying to get out from underneath the two cats. "Watch where your going, guys!" he laughed.

Drippaw scrambled off Poolpaw, letting him able to climb off. After that, Lightpaw was finally able to get off.

A tall, black and white tabby entered the den and scanned the area until he found who he was looking for. "Lightpaw," he said. "It is time for training."

"Yes, Duskwind," Lightpaw meowed with a respectful nod. He turned to look at Poolpaw and Drippaw. "See you later!"

The two tabbies flicked their tails goodbye as Lightpaw left.

"Lucky you two," a voice said from the corner of the den. The cats turned their attention to the tortoiseshell she-cat who was currently cleaning herself. "Gathering on your third day."

Poolpaw tilted his head to one side. "What was that, Aquapaw?" he asked.

"You're going to a Gathering on your third day as an apprentice," Aquapaw replied. "Don't want to sound like an elder, but... Back in my day, new apprentices never went to Gatherings."

Drippaw rolled his eyes. "Excuse me," he said taking a step forward. "It's a learning experiment. Riverstar wants to see how young... young _er_ apprentices react to the Clans' discussions."

"Trust me," Aquapaw mewed. "Those other Clan cats can say some _foul_ things." she stood up completely. "Especially LeafClan." she added with a sinister look in her dark blue eyes.

Poolpaw shrugged, but before he could say anything, a large black tom walked into the den.

"Drippaw!" he said angrily. "What are you doing? You were supposed to meet me at the RainClan entrance!"

Drippaw lowered his head. "I'm sorry, Dropcloud."

Dropcloud flicked his tail in a sympathetic way. Then he turned to Poolpaw. "Watercoat is out for a patrol," he said. "So I'm going to be training you for the day."

Poolpaw and Drippaw exchanged excited looks.

"Well, have fun." Aquapaw said as they raced out of the den.

* * *

"The rain is very quiet this morning, meaning it will hardly muffle your footsteps as you sneak up on prey," Dropcloud explained as they patted across the campgrounds. "Now is this good, or bad?"

Poolpaw nearly blurted out "bad", but decided to think for a moment.

"Well, it could be bad while hunting..." he meowed thoughtfully.

"But you should try to practice your hunting without the rain as much as you can," Drippaw continued. "If not, you won't learn how to hunt prey proper. And when you try sneaking up on an enemy or prey without the rain muffling your footsteps, you would likely make a racket and scare away your prey or, if you were sneaking up on an enemy cat, spoil your cover which could lead to you loosing the battle."

Dropcloud seemed impressed. "Very good, Drippaw," he meowed approvingly. "You do not want to grow to be a warrior and not learn how to sneak properly."

"I betcha even the other Clans will be surprised when I tell them _that_ strategytomorrow." Drippaw beamed.

"Now, now, Drippaw," Dropcloud said. "Don't get too ahead of yourself. And do _not_ tell the other Clans' strategies for hunting and battling."

Drippaw nodded.

"Come," Dropcloud meowed flicking his tail and continuing walking. "Let us hunt."


	4. Chapter III

_Author Note: Sorry for slow updates. Also, I accidently wrote Aquapaw with a warrior name. I have corrected it now. Sorry if there's any other mistakes like this later on. If you find any, please tell me and I will fix them as soon as possible._

 **Chapter  
III**

Brown ears flicked at the sound of small feet scurrying in the bushes. Poolpaw had finally found something. He immediately went into a sneak position and slowly crawled across the damp grass, listening carefully and following the sound of his prey's tiny heartbeat. He quickly checked the wind's position. It was blowing towards him.

 _Perfect,_ he thought. _It d_ _oesn't smell me._

His tail swished from side to side as he approached the tiny mouse. His heart was pounding. It was at the other side of this small bush. He crouched down and prepared himself. Jumping into the air, his ears perked up and he landed his paw on the animal. He scooped it up and threw it into the air. It landed on the ground, dazed. He jumped onto it once again and with a quick slash of his claws, killed it.

After burying the mouse to pick up on the way back, he continued wandering. He stopped when he smelled a familiar scent. He sniffed more and realized he was smelling the tracks of the bear the night before. He looked at his paws, remembering what had happened last night. He remembered how Watercoat figured out his secret.

What if he told another cat?

He shook away the thought. Watercoat promised he wouldn't tell, and his mentor was almost as loyal as Stormfur, the RainClan deputy. The young calico stared at the bear tracks and thought for a while, letting the rain bounce off his fur. Only, he realized, there was no rain. He swished his head around, confused. Had he run out of RainClan territory - and maybe even into another Clan territory?

The terrain looked different now in the day. He wouldn't have been able to tell last night in the dark, but now he could tell a huge difference. Instead of the great tall, thick-trunked pine trees like in RainClan, the forest was full of lush, green trees with beautiful flowers and amazingly healthy plants. The rocks were covered in vines and each tree branch was covered with giant leafs. He had heard of such a place, and soon it dawned on him.

LeafClan.

Poolpaw heard that those cats climb into the trees and guard at night. Some cat was probably spying on he and Watercoat the entire time last night and - Poolpaw shivered when he realized this - they probably saw him use his power. Those evil cats probably told every cat at in LeafClan about him and his...thing, and were probably going to tell all the Clan's about it at the Gathering tomorrow as well. He would need to get help from Watercoat as soon as possible.

He sniffed and scanned the area to see if there was a cat spying on him now. When he was sure there wasn't, he bounded off back towards RainClan.

* * *

The sweet smell of rain filled his nose, allowing him to take a deep breath and calm down as the rain landed on his fur. He dug up his mouse on the way back, and continued the peaceful walk. That was when he was surprise pounced on from above. His attacker hissed as he pinned Poolpaw to the ground, forcing him a mouthful of grass. Thankfully, Watercoat had taught Poolpaw a helpful little trick. He quickly went limp, hoping his attacker would think he had given up. It worked. As the cat loosened its grip, Poolpaw sprang up and tackled it. He leapt on top of it, but stopped as he was about to dig his teeth into it when he heard a familiar meow:

"Hey! Wait! Poolpaw!"

Poolpaw stepped off and tilted his head at the cat, who stood up to reveal himself. "Drippaw?" the calico mewed surprised. He expected his friend to be angry for nearly killing him, but the usual playful voice was all that came out of his mouth.

"Nice move there!" he purred. "I would've never expected it!"

"Thanks!" Poolpaw beamed. "Watercoat taught me it. Very clever tactic," he thought maybe he should apologize to his friend for nearly killing him. "Erm, sorry for attacking you. I should've recognized your scent."

Drippaw shook his head. "No, _I_ should be the one apologizing," he purred. "I mean, I could smell you _and_ see your spotted fur."

Poolpaw smiled. This is why he liked to have Drippaw around. He was loyal, kind, funny, and brave. Everything anyone would ever need as a friend.

After quickly sharing tongues, the two cats parted once again in search of more prey, Poolpaw going to a more dense forest area and Drippaw off back to Dropcloud with a mouthful of fresh-kill.

Now Poolpaw just needed a bit more prey for the Clan. Then he could get back to the camp and look for Watercoat. He sniffed the area, and picked up another mouse scent. He dropped the mouse he was carrying with him, went into a crouched position, and followed the scent until he was sure he was close enough to pounce on it. In one quick move, he was on the mouse. He grabbed its head in his mouth and snapped its neck. He felt it go limp under his paws, giving him confirmation that it was dead.

A short while later, he had three mice in his mouth. He decided that was enough for now and returned to where Dropcloud was last.

He was confused when Dropcloud wasn't there. "Dropcloud?" he mewed. He opened his mouth, breathing in the forest smells and picked up Dropcloud's scent heading back to the Clan. _He must have gotten bored and returned to the camp._ He reassured himself.

Still, it seemed worrying. Not Drippaw nor Dropcloud were anywhere near. He shrugged off the thought and went towards the direction of the camp. He had only walked for less than a minute when he heard a loud cat hiss and was pushed over by two strong paws. He was being attacked, and this time, it wasn't Drippaw.


End file.
